The present invention is directed towards a safe, economical, and aesthetically pleasing means for providing a dual functioning storage drawer and media shelf in a case piece of furniture, such as a dresser or nightstand.
A vast majority of consumers in the United States have a television in their master bedroom. Such televisions are typically used in conjunction with many electronic components, including but not limited to, cable boxes, DVD players, DVR players, and satellite receivers. Many consumers struggle to find a convenient and aesthetically pleasing location for such components in the bedroom. Some consumers end up storing the components on top of items of furniture, such as a dresser or chest that is adjacent to the television. This exudes a cluttered and disorganized appearance that is not aesthetically pleasing. Some consumers would prefer to have a way to store the electronic components within the item of furniture instead of on top of it. However, some other consumers would prefer to maximize the enclosed storage space within the furniture (i.e., drawers and cabinets) and, therefore, not have any open spaces for storing electronic components. That is particularly the case for consumers who don't have a television in the bedroom.
Similarly, in the case of nightstands, many consumers use the drawers as storage drawers for books and other items. Many consumers also tend to charge their cell phones and tablets next to their bed by plugging the chargers in the wall outlets and laying the devices on top of the nightstand. This can leave a cluttered look on top of the nightstand, and it takes away from space that may otherwise be used for items such as lamps and photographs. Additionally, when valuable electronic devices are laid on top of a nightstand, for example, they are prone to spillage of beverages that the consumer may have set on the nightstand. If consumers choose to charge the devices while in a drawer of the nightstand, the devices are less accessible and the charger cords typically hang out of the drawer as they extend to the wall outlet, thereby producing an undesirable visual effect and leaving the cords subject to damage if the consumer inadvertently attempts to fully close the drawer.
The furniture industry has addressed the issue of electronic device storage in the bedroom in a very ineffective way. Particularly, there are four options from which consumers are able to choose today to solve this organizational dilemma. Yet, those options are fraught with issues, as explained below.
Some prior art items of furniture include an open cavity that forms a shelf on which media components can sit. The open cavity is usually substituted for one or more drawers and is typically found in dressers or media chests. Though the open cavity provides for storage and organization of electronic components, it creates a problem if the consumer does not have a need for storing electronic components, such as in the bedroom. In that case, the open cavity merely becomes a dust collector and wasted space which could have otherwise been used for covered storage, such as drawers for clothes.
Some other prior art case pieces of furniture include a cabinet with a glass door for storing electronic components, but these are not typically seen in bedroom furniture, especially if there is no need for storing components. Therefore, glass doors are not an aesthetically desired option for many consumers, and the functionality is pre-determined for use with storing components because most consumers are unwilling to store clothing in a glass-faced cabinet.
Some additional prior art items of furniture include a drop-down door that creates a faux drawer. The drop-down door works very similarly to the concept of draw bridges in that they usually have two unsightly hinges on each end that drop down along with the door. The drop-down door becomes an unsightly protrusion from the furniture when it is down. Also, such drop-down doors do not enable the consumer to have true drawer-type storage space because the drawer is not able to be pulled from and retracted into the case piece.
A different iteration of a prior art drop down door provides a working drawer for storage, yet the door is also capable of dropping down to reveal an open storage space for electronic components. While this option provides dual functionality, the typical six to eight inch protrusion of the drop down door is unsightly, and such protrusion could cause bodily injury, which raises significant product liability concerns for the manufacturers.
None of the foregoing options that are presently available in the marketplace address the need for a safe and aesthetically pleasing item of furniture having a drawer that can function as an extendible drawer that provides covered storage space or an open cavity for storage of electronic components. Thus, furniture manufacturers and retailers currently have no way for marketing the same items of furniture to both types of consumers—namely, those wanting open media shelves and those wanting maximized covered storage space for clothing, et cetera. It is not practical, nor does it make economic sense for the retailer to stock the same piece of furniture made in two different ways.